Let's be honest. We all want our children to go to a good college.
The problem? College is incredibly expensive. So expensive that it can often send both parents and children into debt if they are not careful.
Thankfully, there are a few ways that you can help your child pay for college without sending anybody into debt.
The suggestions below will help to reduce the costs of college as much as possible. This means that if any money does have to be borrowed, it is kept to the absolute minimum.
Grab That FAFSA Form
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid Form, or FAFSA for short, is one of the most important forms you and your child will fill out as you prepare for college.
This form will allow the college to determine whether the student is entitled to any federal aid or grants.
Shockingly, a lot of people do not fill in this form. We get it. The form can be confusing, and the deadlines for submission can be somewhat on the tighter side. However, if this form isn't filled in, then thousands of dollars in student aid will be left on the table.
Don't forget. This form will need to be resubmitted each year to ensure continued aid.
Apply for Scholarships
There are a lot of scholarships out there. You and your child should spend a bit of time going through the scholarships and see which ones they potentially qualify for.
Don't try to apply to tons and tons of different scholarships. This is a waste of time. Instead, focus on the ones that your child has a reasonable chance of being approved for. This will allow them to put more effort into their scholarship application.
The competition for some scholarships can be quite high. However, if your child doesn't apply, they never know whether they are the ones that will be awarded the scholarship!
Start at a Community College
One of the best ways to help your child pay for college without going into debt is to encourage them to get started with a community college.
Community college, as you may well know, is just a fraction of the price of a university or state college.
If your child starts at a community college for the first couple of years, they can get some credits under their belt. For the final years, they can wrap up their degree at a "proper" college.
There will likely be community colleges in your local area too, which means your child can continue to live at home. This will save them even more money!
Apply for Grants
Completing the FAFSA form will let your child know about the vast majority of college grants available to them, but not all.
Every state should have a grant agency. Your child can apply to the grant agency to see whether there is additional funding available.
This tends to work better if your child is continuing to study in their home state.
Choose the Right College
Sure. It can be tempting for a child to head to a college a few states over. It is going to be one of the first times in their life that they have ever really been able to spread their wings. The problem? This is expensive.
As we said before, most states will have some sort of grant system for students that continue to study in their home state. This is a huge reason why children should continue to study a bit closer to home.
Of course, your child studying close to home, even if only for a couple of years, also means that they can continue to live in your home and eat your food. This is going to save a massive amount of cash for your child.
Your child should only ever really be heading to a college that is a good distance away if they have absolutely no other option-gauge the opportunity cost. For example, if they have managed to get accepted to Harvard for law, then they should probably stick with Harvard.
There will be grants and scholarships available if they are struggling to make ends meet. However, if your child is heading to a college out of state "just because" then encourage them to stay home. It will save them thousands and thousands of dollars.
Encourage Your Child To Get a Job
Even a part-time job earning a couple of hundred dollars per week should be enough to meet most bills and food expenses. A part-time job is not going to be able to fund tuition or board, but every little helps when it comes to studying at college.
Of course, the primary focus for your child at college should be their education. It is important that they are not working too many hours and can keep focused on their study. If they can't, then having a job may end up making college more expensive as they now have to play catch up!
Work-Study Programs
Some courses may be part of a work-study program. As the name suggests, your child will be working in the same field that they are studying. A lot of the time this will involve them being a research assistant.
This is probably not going to pay for the entirety of the course, and it is not going to be available for every single course. However, as we said before, it is always worth looking into. The worst that can happen is you do not get any cash. The best? More of your child's college costs will be funded.
Conclusion
By following these tips, and helping your child put together a budget, college can be affordable. We are not saying that your child may never have to borrow money. As we said, college can be very expensive.
By following the tips on this page, the borrowing can be kept to the absolute minimum, though. In fact, in many cases, borrowing can be eliminated.
If your child combines a part-time job with some grants and a scholarship, then they could leave college virtually debt-free. That is more than can be said about the vast majority of people who graduate!
To learn more about avoiding debt while helping your kids through college, keep reading:
- https://www.doughroller.net/personal-finance/13-ways-to-pay-for-college-without-loans/
- https://www.bestcolleges.com/financial-aid/debt-free-degree/
